X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

In the film world, the X-Men Franchise is one of the more inconsistent works of comic book film making out there (okay, maybe that’s not the case anymore with The Amazing Spider-Man 2).  The first two films, X-Men and X-Men United, are brilliant examples of multiple superhero storytelling.  Director Bryan Singer pretty much defined how to do it.  Then Singer left to make his awful Superman film at Warner Bros. to let Brett Ratner come along and lay an egg.  X-Men: The Last Stand pretty much “almost” killed the franchise.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t help matters either.  Thankfully Matthew Vaughn (and Singer as Producer) rebooted the series with X-Men: First Class.  In fact I liked the prequel more than the first X-Men film.  Now Singer is back to start where he left off and do something that has never been done.  Combine the casts of both series with a time travel story line that accomplishes a celebratory result; nullify the events of The Last Stand.  For this reason alone I love this film.  Seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen on screen again as Professor X and Magneto is enough to make me do back flips (hyperbole enough for you?).  Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine must go back to the ‘70s to prevent the destruction of humanity.  To do this he’ll need the young Professor X and Magneto to find the ever-rogue beauty Mystique and keep her from committing a crime that causes a chain reaction leading to the creation of the Sentinels (massive death robots that hunt down and kill mutants).  The cast of this film is superb.  It’s a joy to see actors like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence return improving upon their characterizations while at the same time watching our favorites from the first X-Men films give one last bow.  Of course being that this comes from a damaged and flawed franchise there are some mysterious omissions and inconsistencies but I can forgive these because of the highly entertaining outcome.  Examples?  Professor X was killed in The Last Stand.  How did he come back?  Do the events of X-Men: Origins ever happen?  (To read more see spoilers).  In the end I’m happy that this franchise is back on its feet again but still wish it had never faltered to begin with.  Even if re-casting the mutants such as Cyclops, Jane Grey, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pride in future installments, I wonder if we’ll ever get to experience The Dark Phoenix story and if the time line will ever catch up to the present (and so contradicting the first films stories).  Is paradox forever doomed to curse this super group?  All I know is I had a great time in the theater and can smile with hope that another great X-Men film will come out soon to expand on this wonderful, messy story.  Grade: A-

Spoilers:  Other questions:  if Mystique was killed in 1970 how is it that she’s in the original X-men.  Why are Wolverine’s claws metal in the future after they were cut off in the last Wolverine film?  (And how is it he can even grow bone claws?  That’s not really his power, is it?)  Will Wolverine still get the carbonadium in his body?  Why did they need Magneto’s help?  It seems he only ended up agitating the situation.  I better stop or I’ll question my rating.